Island Restaurant at Holiday Inn, Brentford

We decided on this place as we’d eaten there before and saw they had a special offer on the Sunday lunch. We didn’t actually realise that the cost was for a ‘help-yourself’ 3 course meal until we got there.

On arrival, I was slightly disappointed because of the ‘help yourself’ canteen feel it had. The starters and desserts had a 1970’s feel (choice of quiches, prawns in sauce, soup and salad for starters, and tiramisu, coffee cake and strawberry cheesecake for dessert) and weren’t of the best quality. For the main course there were 3 joints of meat (lamb, beef and pork) as well as portions of chicken wrapped in bacon. There was a chef serving the meat, though the rest was there to help yourself. I decided on the pork and was disappointed with both the quantity and the quality – two small slices of extremely fatty meat. John had some lamb and beef – again, the meat wasn’t very enjoyable. The roast potatoes were frozen, although to be honest they weren’t too bad – they were probably the best part of the meal. The mixed vegetables consisted of frozen carrots, overcooked broccoli and cauliflower. There were also roasted parsnips, which tasted nice but were far too oily.

I think if you are happy with the quality of the food then it’s a great place, as you could fill your plate more than once. The staff were also quite friendly and helpful. For my tastes, though, I found the quality of the food to be below what I enjoy, and the restaurant had a canteen feel to it that I found difficult to relax in. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the experience and wouldn’t feel happy recommending the Sunday roast to my friends.